The Federal Court has ordered Apple to open up its devices to other app stores, as part of a landmark finding that the tech giant violated Australian competition law.

It's a fundamental shift for an estimated 15 million Australian Apple users, who will soon be able to download apps from the open web as well as rival app stores as a result.

The company has until March 2027 to make the changes, Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach ruled on Thursday.

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[–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

If this judgment stands, it is incredible. A world-leading judgment that goes well beyond the ridiculous half one-tenth measure that the EU recently imposed on Apple, which at first resulted in Apple cutting their 30% cut of sales down to just 27%, and after some pushback, Apple oh-so graciously agreed to let developers keep 95% of their money for purchases that don't use any Apple infrastructure. This is definitely better than that, because it bans those fees.

That said, this is a decision of a single judge of the Federal Court. It will undoubtedly be appealed to the High Court, and who knows how it will end up. A good start, but there's a long way to go before the headline is truly accurate.

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